Talking Rafi: Know The Legend Mohammed Rafi
Sunday, September 30th, 2007This article is by Mr. Anuj Kumar, Correspondent, (Delhi Bureau of The Hindu). Vinod Viplav documents the life and times of Mohammed Rafi. Here is a review of Meri Awaz Suno, published in all the editions of The Hindu on July 30, and other dates.
Some things just refuse to go out of fashion. One of them is Mohammed Rafi’s voice. However, few know that Rafi was equally peerless as a human being. “Had he opted for any other profession, he would have still managed to create space for himself in the hearts of people,†observes Vinod Viplav, a senior journalist, who has come up with a book on Rafi. Called “Meri Awaz Sunoâ€, the book is an attempt to analyse the life and times of Rafi. “There are compilations of his songs, but there is hardly any book which looks into his life and analyses his songs.†(more…)
As a writer and a die hard Rafi fan, I am thrilled by overwhelming response of Rafi fans and Music lovers on my book on great music legend Mohammad Rafi Saheb – “Meri Awaz Sunoâ€. It is amazing that a in the age of modern mode of communication and entertainment like internet and television a book got unbelievable response. This is the magic of the person who leaved 27 years ago but his songs are still enthralling and delighting us. We all rafi fans not only want to listen his melodious voice but also want to know about each and every aspects of his life. 
Recently I was browsing through an Article written by Mr. Raju Bharatan in the Illustrated Weekly of India of August, 1993. Mr. Bharatan highlights the songs of Rafi for unknown small time Music Directors.
In the second half of the 20th century, in the world of Indian film music and in the kingdom of Playback singing, if we explore the pages of history we come across a number of wizards. In the process of scrolling, our Observation gets stuck at a particular point. At that point we find a name, which became an example of versatility. 
Ravi, better known as Ravi Shankar Sharma, emerged in the film arena in the 1950s when success of most of the movies were dependant on strong story base and everlasting music composed for those films. Even more significantly the composers like Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Naushad, Madan Mohan and lyricists like Shakeel Badayani, Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Hasrat Jaipuri, never compromised with the producers in respect of compositions. Further Directors like Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, had tried to built in realistic approach in respect of picturisation of song sequences. 
When Music Director Naushad expired, in her condolence message, Saira Banu expressed her amazement at Dilip Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Naushad and Shakeel Badayuni, all Muslims joining together and giving hit Bhajans. Perhaps, this fact speaks volumes of the general public not bothered about the Hindu – Muslim culture but believing only in Indian culture. Well we never bothered to which religion these people belonged but only enjoyed their performance. I read somewhere that Dilip Kumar in his entire career has acted in only one movie where he had to don the role of a Muslim and that incidentally was MUGHAL E AZAM, otherwise, in all his movies, he has portrayed Hindu characters. 
Roshan galvanised the Indian horizon of film music with his excellent experiments on melody. He had created mujras, qawallis, ghazals, classical compositions which match the exact requirement of the theme of the films wherever he had worked. 
Laxmikant Pyarellal emerged into the Indian film arena at a period when the main stream cinema was flooded with extremely talented music directors, lyricists and filmmakers in the 60s. Already the film industry has created its own unique standard due to the sheer brilliance of Musical Giants like Shankar Jaikishan, Naushad, Madanmohan, Roshan, Khayyam, Salil Chowdhury and many others and the versatile performance of Mohammad Rafi for over 15 years. 
Rafi pleaded Mujhe mat roko mujhe gaane do in front of a 12,000-strong audience at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Calcutta, on a February night in 1980, sending a strong signal to the producers and the powers-that-be in the Bombay film industry. Almost 40 years before that, Rafi had to persuade his father to let him go to Bombay so that he could sing in films. When Rafi’s father came to see him off at the railway station, he told Rafi, “Be a good man.†Twenty seven years after Rafi left us, we still keep debating whether he was a greater singer or a greater human being. When Laxmikant and Pyarelal composed their first film song, Rafi handed over the fee that he received to them saying “wapas mein bnaat loâ€.